Does Germany get Russian oil through India? This is supported by figures from the Federal Statistical Office, which show a noticeable increase in oil products from India. There is much to suggest that the sanctions imposed against Russia are not effective
Figures from the Federal Statistical Office suggest that Germany continues to import large quantities of Russian oil via India. Imports of petroleum products from India increased more than twelvefold in the first seven months of this year compared to the same period last year, as the Wiesbaden authority announced on Tuesday. According to the UN, India, in turn, purchases large quantities of crude oil from Russia.
The imports from India were “mainly gas oils that are used to produce diesel or heating oil,” the statisticians explained. India produces these gas oils from crude oil, which the country has been purchasing in large quantities from Russia since the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
In the first seven months of this year, petroleum products from India worth 451 million euros were imported to Germany – after just 37 million euros in the same period last year. That was 2.4 percent of all German imports of mineral oil products in this period.
Market could “balance” blockade
Because of the war, Germany stopped its direct imports of oil from Russia. The Western states have also introduced a price cap for Russian oil, which they want to enforce internationally using their market power in shipping companies and insurance companies. However, this mechanism is reportedly not working as planned. The main problem is checking compliance by the authorities.
Georg Zachmann from the Bruegel think tank in Brussels told AFP about the development of oil imports from India that it was “very plausible that Germany and other European countries are implicitly buying Russian oil.” As soon as a direct trade route is blocked, the market is able to “balance it indirectly”. Even if the exact origin of the crude oil is “concealed,” it is “probably Russian.”
Zachmann also believes it is “unlikely” that the EU embargo will “significantly reduce” Russian oil exports. Regarding the price cap, the expert said that since Russia exports very large quantities of oil overall, “its income remains very high.”
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Meanwhile, the higher imports of petroleum products also drove up import figures for India overall: In the first seven months, goods worth 8.7 billion euros were shipped from India to Germany – 1.7 percent more than in the same period last year. With a volume of one billion euros alone, clothing was the most important import good from India.
German exports to India also increased massively by 21 percent to a volume of 9.9 billion euros. The most important export goods were machinery and chemical products. This makes India an increasingly important trading partner – German imports from India doubled between 2015 and 2022, and exports increased by more than half during this period.
Source: Stern
